What to Expect

The 14A District Court has three judges: the Honorable J. Cedric Simpson, the Honorable Kirk W. Tabbey and the Honorable Richard E. Conlin. Each judge schedules jury trials at the beginning of each month. Each judge may have as many as twenty jury trials originally scheduled for a given jury week. Between the time the cases are scheduled and the actual selection of a jury, the judges do everything they can to resolve the cases short of jury trial. Many of the cases are resolved by settlement, plea or dismissal, which saves money for the community and time for prospective jurors. Typically, only a few of the originally scheduled cases are left for each judge on the day of jury selection.

Your Presence is Important

Of those cases that are left on jury selection day, many reach resolution without an actual jury trial taking place. The fact that the jurors are in the courthouse and ready for selection often drives parties to the realization that reaching an agreement on their own - even with compromise - is more attractive than leaving the decision to an objective third party like a jury. In other words, your mere presence as a juror helps to resolve disputes, even if you never get in the jury box.

Special Warning

All correspondence from the court will be in writing. Identity thieves posing as court workers are calling people around the country - including Michigan - to tell them they failed to report for jury service, that a warrant has been issued for their arrest and then ask for a Social Security number and other personal information. (Detroit Free Press, August 19, 2005).